Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his position on software patents; the position the Government took on the proposed Computer Implemented Inventions Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2520/07]

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has been party to the European Patent Convention since 1992 and our law reflects its Article 52 criteria on the patentability of inventions. The Convention makes it clear that computer programs "as such" cannot be patented but it is important to note that this does not extend to so-called 'computer implemented inventions'. These may be patentable under certain conditions and many thousands of such patents have already been granted by the European Patent Office and the national patent offices within the EU.

However, the application of the case law and the administrative practice of Member States in this area is divergent. As a result, it is currently possible to patent a particular computer implemented invention in one Member State and not in another, with negative consequences for the efficient functioning of the Internal Market. For this reason, the Commission brought forward, in 2002, a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, the aim of which was to rectify this situation and to make the conditions for patentability more transparent — to give innovators and enterprises the ability to compete effectively in the single market.

Ireland supported the proposal as offering increased certainty on intellectual property rights protection and as reinforcing the single EU internal market. While the measure had wide support from the European ICT industry, including many within the SME sector, it was opposed by non-proprietary software interests. Ultimately, the European Parliament rejected the proposed directive in July 2005. After this rejection, the European Commission indicated that it would not be bringing forward a further proposal in this area.